The Browns and Myles Garrett agreed to a deal Tuesday that would make the Pro Bowl pass rusher the league’s highest-paid defensive player. Garrett signed the contract Wednesday.
The deal will 
make Garrett the NFL’s highest-paid defender. It will be worth $125MM over five years, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). This comes in $1.5MM north of the NFL’s previous highest-paid defender, Khalil Mack.
Cleveland will guarantee Garrett $100MM — $50MM at signing — and has its top defender signed through 2026, Rapoport tweets. The $100MM figure will surpass Mack as well, though the Bears edge rusher’s $60MM fully guaranteed will still lead all defenders.
Despite the ugly end to Garrett’s 2019 season, this process has moved fast. The Browns began extension talks with their star defensive end barely a month ago, and the team with the most cap space appears on the verge of resetting the defender market. This would give the league two new market-topping deals in two weeks, with Patrick Mahomes agreeing to a $45MM-per-year pact July 6.
Although Cleveland has a new GM, Andrew Berry was with the team when Garrett went No. 1 overall in 2017. Berry has been active this offseason, authorizing big-money payments to Jack Conklin and Austin Hooper. Garrett’s deal, though, would be the foundational piece of a Browns defense that largely consists of rookie contracts. Garrett is signed through 2021, after the Browns picked up his fifth-year option.
Garrett’s resume is not on Mack’s level just yet, but he’s nearly five years younger — at 24 — and has become one of the game’s best pass rushers. The former Texas A&M standout registered 13.5 sacks and 29 QB knockdowns in 2018. He was on his way to a better statistical season last year, recording 10 sacks in 10 games. But the NFL suspended Garrett for the rest of 2019 after he struck Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph with a helmet. Roger Goodell reinstated Garrett earlier this year.
Prior to Garrett, the Browns had squandered several first-round investments — from Johnny Manziel to Justin Gilbert to Corey Coleman — in recent drafts. This massive extension coming to pass would represent a tide change for a Cleveland team that has not seen many homegrown players come through worthy of such an accord in the modern era.
I’ll never be able to root for this guy after his shenanigans in that PIT game. Luckily I’m not a Browns fan so I won’t have to anyway… hopefully he’s never gonna pull any crap like that again tho.
Agree. Little class.
Considering he almost had his own helmet ripped off by other steelers that game, including Rudolph, I don’t see him trying something like that again…..
myles was just trying to help him put his helmet back on
Browns better win and win soon cause they are gonna have some salary cap problems with players wanting paid. Chubb will want top 5 money, OBJ, mayfield
OBJ has no more guaranteed money so they can cut or move on from him at any time. Salary cap is basically meaningless considering how the Chiefs, with less cap space than most teams just signed two mega contracts
Garrett got a ton. I get players get paid on future expectations and potential but that’s a lot for a player with one pro bowl and no AP’s
He’s the real deal. He’s the real deal now and the future. I’m glad the browns are locking him down, the incident in Pittsburgh was the anomaly and not the norm. I wish he didn’t do what he did, and I wish he apologized for it… he’s served his suspension and he’s a damn good player.
he’s legit but highest defensive paid player in the league?? that’s funny. its almost as if the “huge incedent” that we all saw ment nothing at all to the browns. at the very least its worth something of a pay cut… but I digress he is not worth the highest paid defensive player in the league, I’m sorry…
Who’s a more promising defender other than Aaron Donald? Back your argument with objective facts and statistics. Until then, Garrett deserves his contract
Darius Leonard. What he did as a rookie to turn that Colts defends around was amazing. Led the league in tackles. Definitely up there with Donald. Garrett is an absolute stud. Smart to lock him up
I’ll give you that one, but you also acknowledged that Garrett deserves his payday
Absolutely
D. Hunter for the Minnesota vikings… He’s better than Garrett now and will be later on…
I wouldn’t say he’s any better than Garrett. Myles has 23.5 sacks in 26 games, while Hunter has 29 in 32. That’s a nearly identical rate and Garrett is a superior run defender according to PFF. Besides, Garrett is younger and has more room to grow. I’m not discounting his talent by any means, but what makes you believe Hunter will be better in the future?
He is ass. Plays the race card when he knows he screwed up.
I tend to agree but to be fair none of us really know what happened there, but what I did see was Rudolph started it and he kept instigating it. I find it hard to believe though he’d use that word especially in the company he was in.
Guys get fired up all the time like Rudolph did, it’s the NFL. In no way does that justify this clown doing what he did.
Not this “Rudolph started it” BS again. The cheap shot clearly started it. End. Of. Story.
“Cheap shot” where he purposefully didn’t land on the QB after the end of a game where Rudolph was getting his ass beat.
There was no cheap shot. Pull your head out long enough to look at it and you’ll see that the ball was still in Rudolph’s had when Garrett started a tackling motion. Want to talk cheap shots? Garrett nearly had his helmet twisted off, was kicked in the lower half twice and grabbed once. How much are you willing to take before losing your cool?
Agree
Still better than most DE
Yes we got Garrett locked up I’m so happy
Love the picture too. How you like that, in your face everyone
Showing players that you reward strong performances is smart business and allows you to attract other free agent talent. Browns have made a lot of positive moves over the offseason and finally seem to be heading in the right direction.
jeez
GM’s and owners are still clueless. Mack, Garret,and A Darnold have more combined losing seasons than winning ones. But keep breaking the bank on D players. Its not that hard to figure out its and offensive driven league.
to suggest that them not carrying their teams makes them not worth their contracts?
Sure. What’s important to a team, signing players or winning?
JJ’s belief that spending on offense results in more wins than spending on defense lacks factual support. Using Spotrac as a source I compared the top 5 offensive spenders from the past 3 seasons against the top 5 defensive spenders. The top offensive spenders had a combined record of 102-136-2 while the top defensive spenders had a record of 126-114.
Fair enough, but did you look at the SB teams and their stats on O?
2019: KC 7th, SF 4th
2018: NE 10th Rams 2nd
2017: Philly 4th NE 1st.
Name the QBs that have started for the teams Mack has been on.
Goff, Carr, and Mitch have been to ‘pro bowls’. Mayfield lost to S Barkely OROY. Does that matter? That covers them all. LA still has to pay Ramsey and give up another 1st.
Horrible take. Aaron Donald is the best player in football. With how much contracts are going up the Rams got a good deal. And how dare the Browns for using their mountain of cap room to keep the best defensive player they have ever had.
I love D. Played it for years. But it’s without question a offensive league. Again, Darnold, Mack & Garret combined, their teams are well below 500.
Irrelevant and horrible logic. Donald was the best player on the Rams for years on a rookie deal. Since he got paid they haven’t been below .500. Bears are 20-12 since they paid Mack. They were all high draft picks so of course their teams struggled early on.
You agree their teams struggle then? I forget when Darnold was re-upped, but
2014: 6-10
2015: 7-9
2016: 4-12
2017: 11-5
More losing than winning on that rook contract.
If this is an offensive league, you need defenders in the trenches to harass quarterbacks. The Browns’ defense plummeted once Garrett was suspended. Without Donald, the Rams would be a defensive abomination. Who led the Bears to twelve victories in 2018? It certainly wasn’t Trubisky. Chris Jones of Kansas City was a major difference maker in their Superbowl win. Yes, quarterback and offensive tackle are more important, but don’t discount the impact of a well-rounded defensive lineman
Whats with your obsession with the teams record. Its not how you judge 1 player, especially in football where the roster goes 53 deep. Aaron Donald is the best player in football. Garrett is the best player the Browns 2.0 have had and they had a mountain of cap room to re sign him. The Bears got significantly better once Mack came. Yes you can pay defensive players. You realize the 2 teams that played in the super bowl invested heavy on defense? Cheifs gave up a 1st and gave Frank Clark a mega deal. 49ers gave Dee Ford a ton of money. The Packers went from a middle of the road team to the NFC title game because they revamped their defense.
And all of the talk was Jimmy G came up small in the 4th, whereas Mahomes lit it up.
As for my obsession with team records; quite simple, teams & their players are judge off their records. If you’re a great player, yet your team is constantly 3rd or 4th in their division, who cares? It’s sports, winning is the goal.
LOL come back to reality where thats not how you judge players in the NFL. Yes winning is the goal, and do you know how much those teams would be worse off without Donald, Garrett and Mack? Your whole point was not to pay those players, yet the Rams are 22-10 since they paid Donald and the Bears are 20-12 since they paid Mack. Dont come back with “they are overall below .500”. No one cares how bad their teams were early in their career.
So when we do judge their careers and their teams; after they start winning? The last 2 seasons, the Rams D were 16th (’19) & 19th (’18). Talk about middle of the road.
Bears D was much better coming in at 6th & 1st. But it’s no secret that the Bears O was inefficient in both seasons.
Browns gonna Brown. But the catch here is, can he stay on the field? No doubt he is talented and a violent threat as a pass rusher. And we could dismiss his issue with Mason Rudolph and the subsequent attempt to justify it. I just would have put another season into it before committing that to him. If you can pay talent, I’m almost always in favor of keeping them. You don’t always luck into that kind of talent. I just think this move is easier to question with the history the Browns have of risking it for talent, only to find out they are knuckleheads. Hope this kind of thing puts perspective on Garrett and that he can be the entertaining on field player he is.
As long as it isn’t against Baltimore.
He’s a racist. Call it what he is. Behaved like an ass and then blamed it on a white guy using a slur. Pathetic individual
Well get used to the racist stuff, I would say if your not then don’t worry about it but that’s not true anymore. Just disagree with a black or a libtard and your racist. I will watch football still but on 5 minutes after the game has started. I can’t sit and watch racists and anti Americans protest. Say what you want libs but that’s how I feel and how I see it. But I can stomach watching these entitled thugs make millions from the country they hate because…it’s football
Amen!!!